Here are copies of my CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, MI printout, and MEM /C printout. Using this configuration, I got 624.8K (That's 639,808 bytes folks) of usable memory under 640K. This is using the MS DOS 5.0/HIMEM.SYS/EMM386.EXE combination. I have received a new HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE from a person that sent me feedback on the orginal memhints file, therefore you may receive different memory results than I. I am using a Gateway 2000 386/33C with 4megs of RAM, a 120MB IDE hard drive, and a Diamond SpeedSTAR Plus video card. One thing to do to get more memory is to keep the environment small. Anything that is shown when you type SET at the prompt is in the environemt. Make directory names that are put in the path short(the longer the path, the more memory that is used). Keep your SET= statements to a minimum. Also keep them simple. Set LASTDRIVE to the lowest drive letter needed. I you have one HD partition, and don't plan on using a ramdrive place LASTDRIVE=C into you CONFIG.SYS. Other things to do in the CONFIG.SYS is to place FCBS=1 and STACKS=0,0 on separate lines. Keep the number of files in the CONFIG.SYS down to the smallest that you need. There is also a PC Magazine utility called UMBFILES.COM that will place your files into the UMB. If you use this utility, the minimum files in the CONFIG.SYS must be 8, as this is the minimum allowable by MS-DOS, and the rest will be loaded high. Norton Utilities 6.0's NDOS.COM will leave only 256 bytes in low memory if you set it up the way I have done. 4DOS will also do the same thing, although with different switches, etc. ******************************************************************************* CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS H=2 SHELL=C:\NDOS.COM /U /E:256U DOS=HIGH,UMB STACKS=0,0 FCBS=1 FILES=8 BUFFERS=15 LASTDRIVE=C ******************************************************************************* AUTOEXEC.BAT @ECHO OFF SET COMSPEC=C:\NDOS.COM PROMPT $P) PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\NDW;C:\PCTOOLS;C:\DOS;C:\NU;C:\UTILS;C:\QEMM;C:\PKZIP;C:\ARJ;C:\VPIC SET TEMP=C:\TMP C:\STAR\UTIL\VMODE MONITOR UMBFILES=42 LH C:\DOS\DOSKEY /HISTORY LH C:\PCTOOLS\PC-CACHE/SIZEXT=512/WRITE=ON/V1/QUIET LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM/U EP /ON IMAGE WIN LH C:\PCTOOLS\SWAPSH /N PCSHELL/R CD\ ******************************************************************************* MI.COM (or MI/A) Memory Info V7.1 (c)1991 Central Point Software, Inc. Total bytes owned Addr. Low area High area Program or device driver ----- -------- --------- -------------------------- 0255h 1,072 .. Device=HIMEM Attr=A000h Name=XMSXXXX0 0299h 3,216 .. Device=EMM386 Attr=C000h Name=$MMXXXX0 03AEh 256 3,376 NDOS 03CBh 639,808 .. ---- Begin High (Upper) Memory ---- C9B9h .. 2,496 UMBFILES CA63h .. 4,128 DOSKEY /HISTORY CB75h .. 15,712 PC-CACHE C:\PCTOOLS\PC-CACHE.COM/SIZEXT=512/WRITE= CF3Eh .. 3,840 MOUSE D02Fh .. 8,288 EP D236h .. 9,264 SWAPSH C:\PCTOOLS\SWAPSH.COM /N 655,360 bytes (640k) total DOS 5.00 conventional memory. 639,808 bytes (625k) largest executable program. 47,392 bytes if loaded high. 0 bytes Extended (AT/286/386) memory, reported by BIOS. 2,182k bytes free, reported by XMS driver version 3.0 (3.3). HMA in use. ******************************************************************************* MEM/C |MORE Conventional Memory : Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex ------------- --------------------- ------------- MSDOS 10656 ( 10.4K) 29A0 HIMEM 1072 ( 1.0K) 430 EMM386 3216 ( 3.1K) C90 NDOS 256 ( 0.3K) 100 FREE 640000 (625.0K) 9C400 Total FREE : 640000 (625.0K) Upper Memory : Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex ------------- --------------------- ------------- SYSTEM 167456 (163.5K) 28E20 NDOS 3376 ( 3.3K) D30 UMBFILES 2496 ( 2.4K) 9C0 SWAPSH 9264 ( 9.0K) 2430 DOSKEY 4128 ( 4.0K) 1020 PC-CACHE 15712 ( 15.3K) 3D60 MOUSE 3840 ( 3.8K) F00 EP 8288 ( 8.1K) 2060 FREE 47392 ( 46.3K) B920 Total FREE : 47392 ( 46.3K) Total bytes available to programs (Conventional+Upper) : 687392 (671.3K) Largest executable program size : 639808 (624.8K) Largest available upper memory block : 47392 ( 46.3K) 3145728 bytes total contiguous extended memory 0 bytes available contiguous extended memory 2234368 bytes available XMS memory MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area ******************************************************************************* If you have any questions, comments, or helpful memory hint, please write me. Sean Martin 6044 Camino Alegre El Paso, TX 79912 If you would like a reply, please send a self addressed stamped envelope. This would greatly help as I am just a poor college student. Thanks to the few people that have written with tips, files, and questions. Texas A&M University Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 1995! WHOOP!